{"id":5881,"date":"2009-07-29T12:41:48","date_gmt":"2009-07-29T17:41:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com?p=5881"},"modified":"2009-07-29T10:37:44","modified_gmt":"2009-07-29T15:37:44","slug":"denver_show_me_1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/2009\/07\/29\/denver_show_me_1\/","title":{"rendered":"Denver, Show Me Your Jalwa!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yes, Denver has jalwa<\/a>. Hey, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve even got the original Dhak Dhak girl<\/a> in our midst! (And yes, I know some of you are Bollywood haters<\/a>. Go wreak havoc on another post, ok?) When I moved to Colorado a few years ago, I was amazed to discover that I could watch many Bollywood films<\/a> on opening night. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s tea and samosas at the concession, and hoots from the girls whenever Salman takes off his shirt. They hoot. I cringe. If he had better moves, he would refrain from such tasteless exhibitionism<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

And that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s where Renu Kansal<\/a> comes to the rescue.<\/p>\n\n

\"Bollywood<\/p>\n\n

Old-timers may recognize her from her previous avatar<\/a>, but over the last three years, Renu has enrolled over 630 students at her studio, Bollywood West<\/a>, and now serves as the semi-official Bollywood ambassador of Colorado.Last February, Renu\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s studio attracted national media attention<\/a>, where she confessed (for shame) that she wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t a sure that a Bollywood dance studio would thrive out here in this forsaken land:<\/p>\n\n

Students swing their hips, raise one hand to their mouths as if calling out to a lover, and then lift one leg and hop forward in a line. After the number, instructor Renu Kansal reminds the dancers to wave their arms side to side smoothly, so they don’t look “too drill-team-ish.” As if they were in a Bollywood movie, the dancers are trying to tell a story of romance.\n\n\n\n“I taught this in New York, and when we moved out here and I started Bollywood dancing classes, I was skeptical,” Kansal said in an interview. “I was like, oh gosh, I don’t know if this’ll work here. But I had to double my class offerings in under a month. It was a huge surprise to me.” [link<\/a>]<\/blockquote>\n\n

As you might guess, her classes are not quite like those offered by the auntie who teaches the kids for the Diwali function. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a professional operation, and a serious dance studio. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve taken notice of the fact that she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s taken Denver by storm by opening her studio to everybody<\/em> \u00e2\u20ac\u201c across dance experiences, gender, age, and race. If you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen these folks move once, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re hooked by how much fun they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re having\u00e2\u20ac\u201dand did we mention the fact that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re good?<\/p>\n\n

Because they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re good, Bollywood West has been popping up all over the news in the post-Slumdog era– in places you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d expect, but even more spectacularly\u00e2\u20ac\u201din places you wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t. On the no-brainer side, Bollywood West has performed at some of the most high profile events in Denver\u00e2\u20ac\u201dlike the November 2008 Starz Denver Film Festival opening of that film<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0that won some awards.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

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But last May, Bollywood \u00e2\u20ac\u0153went to bat.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Billed as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153a great chance for the Bollywood-curious to get their feet wet — and for Bollywood fans to check out the great American pastime, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153 you may still be wondering why Renu\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s company would be asked to perform for a Colorado Rockies game (2007 World Series, um, hopefuls,) And here it is:<\/p>\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153They wanted something upbeat, high-energy, youthful and vibrant. We are, apparently, all of those things\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\n\n\n\nWe play cricket in India, so the transition to baseball takes a little explaining, usually,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Kansal says. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153People want to know where the wickets went and why you have to run around four bases instead of back and forth between two — and why the games are so short. Cricket games go on for days.\u00c2\u00a0\n\n\n\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153You never know what could happen,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she goes on. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We could redefine the point of confluence between Bollywood and baseball. Hopefully we can turn some sports fans into Bollywood fans as well.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d [link<\/a>]<\/blockquote>\n\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all about confluence, you see. Last month, Renu and her company were asked to present at what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s probably one of the most popular and talked about cultural event series around here: Mixed Taste, at MCA Denver<\/a>. The idea is to take two speakers who have nothing to do with one another, throw them in a space where they present one after the other without referring to each other, and then let all hell break loose in the discussion. I was there. So\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 we had Bollywood West vs. Urban Parkour<\/a>. (And no, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not going even try to explain what Urban Parkour is. Just watch the link, ok?) The crowd is the urban contemporary museum meets artsy hipster crowd\u00e2\u20ac\u201d- not so brown, in other words. (Proof: I was complimented on my dancing at the reception and almost choked on my drink.)<\/p>\n\n

Back to topic. After watching Urban Parkour (APEX movement\/CO Parkour) literally bounce off walls and elicit \u00e2\u20ac\u0153oohs\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and “aaahs,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I was a little worried as to how Bollywood dance vs. Urban Parkour would play out. Suspense. Then Renu dazzled us through a genealogy and classification of Bollywood-style dancing\u00e2\u20ac\u201dfrom past to present in under 45 minutes, with ample demonstrations by her company, including a performance of the recent Aaja Nachle<\/em> number, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Show Me Your Jalwa<\/a>.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d As for the discussion, here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s how it went down:<\/p>\n\n

The first question?<\/p>\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153What\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a jalwa?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/blockquote>\n\n

And shortly thereafter,<\/p>\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I ask that each group show me its jalwa.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/blockquote>\n\n

And so they did, after which many other questions<\/a> followed.\u00c2\u00a0 The Bollywood folks commented on Parkour, the Parkour on Bollywood. And it ended with the Parkour folks (called “Traceurs\u00e2\u20ac\u009d) bouncing off more things while Bollywood West jammed to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Jai Ho.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Surreal, but definitely one of the most fun and interesting events I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been to for a long time.<\/p>\n\n

Given that we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re apparently the only two people in Colorado who read Sepia Mutiny (Mountain mutineers, hello???) I wanted to ask her some questions that have been keeping me up at night, and she obliged to answering them.<\/p>\n\n

\n1.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Did Madhuri Dixit pass on her dancing jalwa to you in a mystical ceremony, or did you actually convince your parents that it was ok to study Bollywood dancing? <\/strong>\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

Sadly, neither. My dad, like most desi dads of the time, was not at all supportive to send me to college as a (gasp! Cue shame!) dance major. I managed to capitalize on the Pavlovian Dad-word \u00e2\u20ac\u0153engineer\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and convinced my parents that a degree in Audio Engineering and Sound Reinforcement\/Acoustical Engineering was a good idea. I think they didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know what it actually<\/em> was, luckily for me. (i.e., listen to music all the time and hang around all your friends in the band, yet while still getting paid). They heard the word engineer and rejoiced at my potential stability and maintenance of the desi career-trinity (daktur-enjneer-compootersciences)<\/blockquote>\n\n

2.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Your studio is thriving. From what I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve read, it sounds as if you hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t predicted something like Bollywood West would take off here. What about the Denver\/ Colorado area has made it so supportive of what you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re doing?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Not that I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want<\/em> it to succeed, I just had to be realistic, as does anyone starting up a business. I planned for it to be really lean for a couple of years\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 That said, I think that even though Colorado is considered flyover\/RedState turf, Denver and Boulder are small cultural bright spots on the way to either coast. We don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get enough credit. People out here are very culturally oriented, very physically active, and there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a prevailing \u00e2\u20ac\u0153why not?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d attitude when presented with something new. My student base is made up of a lot \u00e2\u20ac\u0153why not\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s\u00e2\u20ac\u009d that have been straight hypnotized by the jhatka-matkas<\/a> and the haripas<\/a>, and they keep coming back, week after week, year after year! Out here it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s really such a diverse group that comes to our classes, it makes it hard to pin down demographics and target-audience data. I guess the only recurring theme is that our people like to shake it\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/blockquote>\n\n

3.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 This is a hard one, but what would you say to those cynical party-poopers who look at the American enthusiasm for Bollywood dancing as Orientalist? (To those who decry Bollywood dancing as vulgar and superficial, I say you remind me of my elderly relatives. The crotchety ones.) <\/strong><\/p>\n\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d say it just comes back around\u00e2\u20ac\u201dAmerican movies of the 30s and 40s were musical style, just like Bollywood. It just happened that American film trended away from this style and Indian cinema found a way to make it work in almost any situation. With Moulin Rouge<\/em>, High School Musical<\/em>, the movie of Rent<\/em>, and a bunch of other near-to-recent films, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ridiculous to say that India has a lockdown on the concept of songs\/dances in movies. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just that mainstream American film abandoned the model until only recently. The intrigue and popularity of Bollywood movies now serves as a catalyst to make it all more mainstream digestible here in the US again and for the American film industry to re-popularize soundtrack oriented films and incorporate dance again. Western grandparents see it as coming back<\/em> around to the style they loved, this is nothing new. \n\n\n\nAnd I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think healthy interest and enthusiasm for any culture is a bad thing\u00e2\u20ac\u201dit\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the opposite<\/em> action that perpetuates all things bad and the worst behaviors in society.\n\n\n\nI remember one time, with Bollywood Axion, we were shooting for a Japanese documentary and they had followed us along to some performance at the South Street Seaport Diwali Mela. At the end of the shooting day, after performances, the director wanted us to say something cheesy and exuberant on-camera like \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Bollywood for everyone!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d So we shout, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Bollywood for everyone!!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and some crotchety old aunties, shuffling by, snapped at us \u00e2\u20ac\u0153No! Bollywood is just for Indian!!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and scowled like salty hags that they were. Unless they personally were descendents of DadaSahib Phalke<\/a>, I say nobody has any ownership over Bollywood, as an industry or a culture.<\/blockquote>\n\n

4.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 What do you see as the next big trends in Bollywood dancing? Aerial<\/a>? Parkour? Mosh pits? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Parkour definitely is a new trend, seen in both Tashan<\/em> and ham-fistedly in Dilli-6<\/em>. Akshay being part-ninja, executed his runs pretty well, though I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sure there are local Bombay traceurs who would put him to shame. (Including our own BongBreaker, of London.) We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve only seen one instance of Aerial\u00e2\u20ac\u201dthat of Isha Shervani in Luck By Chance<\/em><\/a>, although I still maintain I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d performed the first bollywood aerial routine, last summer. I think the more the global stage of dance is opening up, with borderless media like online, TV programs like SYTYCD<\/a>, etc\u00e2\u20ac\u201dthe style will continue to influence and be influenced globally. There was a big run of salsa-influenced bollywood dancing, a few years ago\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 it will change to Polish goat-farmer dancing, if that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the new hot trend. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sure they can throw it down, the Polish goat-farmers\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 \ud83d\ude09<\/blockquote>\n\n

5.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Lastly, are you as dumbfounded as I am that they haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t shot a Bollywood movie in Aspen or Vail yet? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Yes!! And it would be a breeze to hire back-up dancers and a choreographer, locally, if they did\u00e2\u20ac\u201dcough cough.<\/blockquote>\n\n

Afterward<\/em>: Shortly after Renu answered these questions, she dropped a tantalizing tidbit but swore me to secrecy for a few days. (DesiDancer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been plotting some new tamasha.) Stay tuned\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yes, Denver has jalwa. Hey, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve even got the original Dhak Dhak girl in our midst! (And yes, I know some of you are Bollywood haters. Go wreak havoc on another post, ok?) When I moved to Colorado a few … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,28,21],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5881"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5881"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5881\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}